3/10) Using multiple approaches, we estimated ancestral biomes, reconstructed paleoenvironments that is region specific to Australia, fitted models to evaluate the diversification rates of Oz blindsnakes, and compared rates between arid- and mesic-adapted lineages 🌦️☀️

(4/10) We found that ancestral Australian blindsnakes occupied tropical grasslands, but later transitioned into other biomes on the continent, including multiple transitions into the arid biome. #BioGeoBEARS

(1/10) Shifts in diversification rates of animals and plants in "the land Down Under" have long been linked to aridification, but now, for the first time, we have quantified the relationship between diversification rates and aridity! 🏜️

(2/10) We focused on the fabulous Australian blindsnakes, a group that has arrived in Australia prior to the tumultuous Miocene, to understand how changing temperature and increasing aridity influenced their diversification. 📷 Stephen Zozaya